USS Bashaw
USS Bashaw (SSK-241) in the 1950s.
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History | |
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United States | |
Builder | General Dynamics Electric Boat, Groton, Connecticut[1] |
Laid down | 4 December 1942[1] |
Launched | 25 July 1943[1] |
Sponsored by | Mrs. Norman S. Ives |
Commissioned | 25 October 1943[1] |
Decommissioned | 29 June 1949[1] |
Recommissioned | 3 April 1951[1] |
Decommissioned | 10 May 1952[1] |
Recommissioned | 28 March 1953[1] |
Decommissioned | 13 September 1969[1] |
Stricken | 13 September 1969[1] |
Fate | Sunk as target July 1972 or sold for scrap 4 August 1972[2] (sources disagree) |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | |
Displacement | |
Length | 311 ft 9 in (95.02 m)[4] |
Beam | 27 ft 3 in (8.31 m)[4] |
Draft | 17 ft (5.2 m) maximum[4] |
Propulsion |
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Speed | 21 kn (39 km/h) surfaced,[3] 9 kn (17 km/h) submerged[3] |
Range | 11,000 nmi (20,000 km) surfaced @ 10 kn (19 km/h)[3] |
Endurance | 48 hours @ 2 kn (3.7 km/h) submerged,[3] 75 days on patrol |
Test depth | 300 ft (91 m)[3] |
Complement | 6 officers, 54 enlisted[3] |
Armament |
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USS Bashaw (SS/SSK/AGSS-241), a
Construction and commissioning
Bashaw was
Service history
World War II
Following
On 9 January 1944, Bashaw got underway for duty in the Pacific Ocean. She transited the Panama Canal on 14 January and exercised with the submarines USS Flounder (SS-251) and USS Golet (SS-361) off the Panama Canal Zone before beginning a voyage to New Guinea. She reported to Commander, Task Force (TF) 72, at Milne Bay, New Guinea, on 3 March 1944.
First war patrol
After voyage repairs and provisioning, Bashaw and the submarine
On 13 April 1944, a U.S. Navy
On 27 April 1944, Bashaw attacked and damaged three Japanese trawlers with gunfire. On 10 May, she concluded her patrol with her arrival at Brisbane, Australia, for a refit.
Second war patrol
Bashaw got underway on 27 May 1944 for her second war patrol, assigned a patrol area in the waters around
Third war patrol
After training exercises, Bashaw stood out of Seeadler Harbor for her third war patrol on 7 August 1944, bound for the
Fourth war patrol
Following a refit, Bashaw began her fourth war patrol on 27 October 1944 in a coordinated attack group which also included the submarines Flounder (SS-251) and USS Guavina (SS-362). They proceeded to the coast of Japanese-occupied French Indochina to patrol in the South China Sea, but found meager pickings. Finally, a small Japanese tanker crossed Bashaw′s track on 21 November 1944. Bashaw fired four torpedoes and scored one hit. The lone hit failed to damage the tanker severely enough to sink her, and Bashaw was unable to reach a firing position again. Continuing the patrol, Bashaw sighted a large and heavily escorted Japanese task force on 14 December 1944. Although unable to attack, she reported the contact. On 25 December 1944, Bashaw made a submerged transit of Lombok Strait while returning to Australia, where she arrived at Fremantle on 31 December 1944. She began the year 1945 undergoing refit alongside Euryale.
Fifth war patrol
Bashaw stood out of Fremantle on 26 January 1945 and set course for her designated patrol area along the east coast of
On 5 March 1944, a heavy fog hindered Bashaw′s patrolling until radar picked up a contact. She approached in daylight, surfaced, and fired six torpedoes at what turned out to be the 10,000-gross register ton tanker Ryoei Maru. Two torpedoes scored, and Bashaw’s crew cheered as Ryoei Maru sank. On 6 March, Bashaw sank another "sea truck," then made for Subic Bay on Luzon in the Philippines, where she moored alongside the submarine tender USS Griffin (AS-13) on 12 March 1945.
Sixth war patrol
Bashaw got underway on 27 March 1945 for her sixth war patrol, which she also conducted off French Indochina and Hainan Island. Japanese forces were stretched thin, and she found no worthy targets. On 29 April 1945, she stood into Subic Bay.
May–August 1945
At Subic Bay, Bashaw received orders to continue on to
Post-World War II
1945–1949
Upon her arrival at Pearl Harbor on 22 August 1945, Bashaw received orders to return to Mare Island Navy Yard to prepare for inactivation. On 5 September 1945, she arrived there and began her pre-inactivation overhaul, going into commission in
1951–1969
Bashaw was recommissioned on 3 April 1951 and operated from
After the completion of her conversion, Bashaw was recommissioned on 28 March 1953 and reported to Submarine Division 33 (SubDiv 33) at San Diego. From March to August 1954, she made a Far Eastern cruise. During 1955, she took part in several submarine exercises, including one major exercise in the Hawaiian Islands area, before beginning an overhaul at Hunters Point on 28 June 1955.
When her overhaul was completed five months later, Bashaw was ordered to her new
Bashaw reverted to her original designation, SS-241, in August 1959. She was redesignated as an
Bashaw deployed to the Western Pacific in August 1964 after the
Bashaw′s home port reverted to San Diego, but she continued to deploy to the western Pacific in 1965. She patrolled in the Gulf of Tonkin as the American involvement in the Vietnam War escalated. Upon her return to San Diego on 21 December 1965, she resumed antisubmarine warfare training operations until she entered the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard on 16 May 1966 for a four-month overhaul.
Bashaw continued her routine of western Pacific deployments alternating with antisubmarine warfare training until the results of an operations readiness inspection on 3 July 1969 determined that she was too old to continue naval service.
Decommissioning and disposal
Bashaw was finally decommissioned on 13 September 1969 at San Francisco and struck from the Naval Vessel Register the same day. She was the last Gato-class submarine to be decommissioned. Sources claim both that she was sunk as a target off Hawaii in July 1972 and that she was sold for scrap to the National Metal and Steel Corporation on 4 August 1972.[1][2]
Honors and awards
- battle stars for World War IIservice
- Korean Service Medal
- Vietnam Service Medal with three service stars for Vietnam War service
In popular culture
The 1978
Donny and Marie Osmond movie Goin' Coconuts includes an underwater picture of Bashaw′s wreck in the background of a scene. In the movie's plot, the wreck is loaded with gold bars.[citation needed]References
Citations
- ^ ISBN 1-55750-263-3.
- ^ a b "Bashaw (SS-241)". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Navy Department, Naval History and Heritage Command.
- ^ a b c d e f U.S. Submarines Through 1945 pp. 305–311
- ^ ISBN 0-313-26202-0.
- ^ OCLC 24010356.
- ^ U.S. Submarines Through 1945 p. 261
- ^ a b c U.S. Submarines Through 1945 pp. 305–311
- ^ Hinman & Campbell, pp. 11–12.
- ^ a b "CAPT Don Walsh, USN (Ret.)," National Maritime Historical Society Accessed 2 February 2023
This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
Bibliography
- Hinman, Charles R., and Douglas E. Campbell. The Submarine Has No Friends: Friendly Fire Incidents Involving U.S. Submarines During World War II. Syneca Research Group, Inc., 2019. ISBN 978-0-359-76906-3.
External links